Posts tagged RFID

Making a trip to Walt Disney World during the holidays? You might not avoid the long queues or endless parking lots, but you won't always have to pull out your wallet. As promised back in September, the Orlando area theme park will start accepting mobile payments on December 24th. The launch will ...

The NBA isn't the only professional sports league in the States getting serious about accurate stats accounting. With some help from Zebra Technologies' location system, 17 NFL stadiums will use receivers and RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags inside player's shoulder pads to track movemen...

The contactless payment feature on your bank card is ideal for speeding up minor purchases, and soon it'll be able to replace your Oyster, too. London buses have supported contactless payments for some time, and Transport for London (TfL) has today announced that come September 16th, they'll get y...

If you're the sort who overspends at the mall, you may need a firm reminder to watch your budget. How does an ever-vigilant handbag sound? Finder.com.au could soon make one: meet the iBag, a prototype carryall that locks you out if it believes you're going to splurge. The Arduino-powered bag autom...

Some say NFC is dead, but GEAK from Shanghai wants to prove them wrong. Announced alongside the GEAK Watch earlier today was this GEAK Ring, a tiny NFC-enabled wearable device that stores your identity. The ring's pitched as an intuitive way to unlock your phone -- just hold it with the hand that'...

Many of us avoid flying with checked baggage when possible, and for good reason: even a simple delay can sour a whole trip. Airbus' new Bag2Go prototype could save us from having to pack light, however. The smart luggage carries a raft of sensors that work with an iOS app to bypass the usual airpo...

Three years, three games. Skylanders Swap Force -- the latest crossplatform entry in the mega-successful Skylanders game franchise -- cements Activision's annual approach to its "toys to life" series. The games merge toy figurines with RFID technology to allow in-game avatar representations of the...

Used to be, the Scrabble app was the techiest way to play the venerable vocabulary game, but the folks at Mind Sports have given the analog version some serious geek cred. In preparation for the Prague Mind Sports Festival, the organizers spent £20,000 building a Scrabble board with integrat...

How was your week? We got to spend a couple of days trekking around the Carnegie Mellon campus in Pittsburgh, PA to check out some of the latest projects from the school's world renowned Robotics Institute -- a trip that culminated with the bi-annual induction ceremony from the CMU-sponsored Robot...

What do you get when you attach a point-and-shoot, display, microphone, RFID reader and a bunch of big buttons to a clear plastic box and stick it all in a classroom with a bunch of three- to five-year-olds? Carnegie Mellon's CREATE Lab calls the creation Message from Me. It's a way of engaging ea...

Technologies like NFC, RFID and QR codes are quickly becoming a normal part of everyday life, and now a group from Carnegie Mellon University has a fresh take on close-quarters data it calls acoustic barcodes. It involves physically etching a barcode-like pattern onto almost any surface, so it pro...

Mobile security company Intrepidus Group presented evidence during the EUSecWest security conference potentially identifying a major flaw in at least two US transit systems. Creating an Android app named "UltraReset" and using it in tandem with an NFC-enabled Android phone (a Nexus S, in this case...

A new generation of cheaper, passively powered smart tags could accelerate NFC adoption very soon. Developed at Sunchon National University and Paru Printed Electronics Research Institute in Korea, the circuits could be printed in a similar method to newspapers, but it's the inclusion of the recten...

Our favorite ultra-skinny molecules have performed a lot of useful functions over the years, but keeping fruit flies away was never one of them. Now MIT scientists, with US Army funding, have discovered a way to give these nanotubes the canine-like sense of smell needed to stop produce spoilage an...

QR codes and RFID tags aren't uncommon when it comes to automated payment applications, and now Colorado-based ShelfX has purposed them for its new wireless-equipped Vending Fridges. Eliminating the need for a cashier -- or cash, for that matter -- each unit allows you to purchase any items packe...

OpenWays already got the worlds of smartphones and hotel keys more acquainted, now it wants to make them even more intimate. Working with NXP semiconductors, OpenWays has announced it's bringing a little near-field magic to its Mobile Key solution. Now, you can receive your room number direct to yo...

All those long, long drives to Florida in the family station wagon seemed worth it at the time, but now that we've found out that those lucky South Koreans have another crazy theme-park, we might just change our minds. Located near Seoul, Live Park uses 3D video, holograms and augmented reality, in...

Twas a sad day when Mindscape was forced to shutter the online service used by its collection of Nabaztag robotic rabbits -- as the tale goes, the domain's demise left the tiny, Linux-running hares inanimate, mute and nearly useless. But just five short months later, things are starting to look...

RFID -- it's not just for creepy tracking anymore. Don't believe us? Check out this sweet table that turns RFID-tagged discs into music when dropped into one of four bowls. The discs are made from vinyl records, and each bowl has an RFID reader connected to an Arduino. Dropping a disc into a bowl...

We have some somber news to bring you today: Charles Walton, the man who pioneered the rise of RFID technology, has died at the age of 89. The Cornell-educated entrepreneur garnered more than 50 patents over the course of his career, but it only took one to cement his legacy -- a 1973 patent fo...